I saw a special 2 hour version of Dreamkeeper at a screening at UCLA film school (there's another 45 minutes that will be in the televised version, I think it's being shown for two nights, end of December.) This is an incredible piece of filmmaking and storytelling, better and more authentic in many ways that Dances with Wolves (Dances is hyper-hokie in many places.) The last film about Native Americans that was this good was the Canadian production Black Robe.<br /><br />Dreamkeeper is brilliantly directed, written, acted, executed. I'm pretty jaded watching films, but yes, I laughed and cried (okay, tears didn't actually fall, but moistened my eyes were.) The visuals are staggering. Buffalo stampedes, fights, dream sequences all believable. What's really cool is that the intertwining of the stories works so well, a current story of a grandpa telling his bored grandson Indian legends that become real flashbacks. Superbly written and shot, the director (Steve Barron, an award-winning video director) pulls all elements together and lets the legends tell themselves (okay, I'm really biased against video directors making features, all show and no tell. Dreamkeeper, however, is show and tell done well, ain't that swell?) The two lead actors, Eddie Spears and August Schellenberg don't appear to be acting, they inhabit their contemporary rolls. Each legend has it's own feel and rhythm, and are beatifully directed and edited. And it's all politically correct to boot (apparently each legend had consultants and advisers from the specific tribes.)<br /><br />Hats off to Hallmark Entertainment for taking the great risk to make this staggeringly good production. It should be released as a feature, because it played incredibly well on the big screen at UCLA. Dreamkeeper is a better and more important film than anything in the theaters today. Grab a beer, fry some bread, and sit down at your own home and watch this wonderful miniseries.